Interview with Social Media Blogger Corvida

She's from the south, only known by her alias, and knows social media. She's Corvida and her SheGeeks blog is picking up steam in the social media community. To find out more about her along with some of her thoughts about the industry, I spoke with her last night and the notes from our conversation are below.

Allen: Can we start with a brief bio?

Corvida: I'm Corvida. A 20 year old graphic design major. Corvida is not my real name and is actually an alias that I made up years ago. I'm from Miami, Fl, but currently moving in and out of Atlanta, Ga. I have a huge passion for the tech field, which you can see all about on my blog SheGeeks.net. In my spare time, I'm either listening to my Creative Zen Vision M, reading a good sci-fi book, or spending some time with close friends. I love to laugh and I have a reputation of being a class clown in school. I get my work done though! :) I'm just a gregarious young woman who likes to see the brighter side of life and loves to have fun and smile.

Allen: What is exciting to you currently in the Web/Social Media space?

Corvida: In the Web/Social Media space Twitter, Disqus, and Friendfeed are the biggest services that I'm excited about. However, I'm generally excited about all of the new services and apps that are coming out and everything that's going on with the Web and Social Media. So much is advancing and being improved upon and I love it! I love being a part of it and being able to take part in it.

Allen: Which 3 web sites/services couldn't you live without?

Corvida: This is a tough one, but I couldn't live without Gmail, Twitter, and Google Reader. These are the 3 sites and services that I immediately open when I'm on the internet and they stay open until I shutdown my laptop. They're great services for finding great articles and keeping in touch with the awesomesauce people I've had the pleasure of connecting with. I couldn't do half the work I do without them.

Allen: Which 2 startups are on the road to success?

Corvida: Disqus and Friendfeed are definitely on the road to success. I'd say they're already there. They have a great team of developers, active and loyal fanbases, and great products that work flawlessly right out the box. New features and improvements are rolled out on almost a weekly basis and problems are resolved quickly. What more could a user ask for?

Allen: What's your take on Twitter? I know you use it but what's your strategy for using it?

Corvida: Twitter is my way of just staying in touch and keeping up-to-date on things that are relevant to me. I have two accounts: one for my site (@shegeeks) and one for my nonsense (@corvida). I use it to promote SheGeeks.net and to try to keep in touch with my audience and also keep them informed of things that I may not have time to blog about, but that they still may find useful. For my personal account, I promote a lot of other articles that I come across and stay in touch with those who've reached out a helping hand to me or who I've reached out to.

Allen: Name 4 people we should be following on Twitter but aren't.

Corvida: You should be following @waynesutton, @krynsky, and @eng1ne. These are awesomesauce twitter users that tweet great things, from content to comments.

Allen: Toluu, FriendFeed, ReadBurner, RSSMeme, AlertThingy, etc. - what's the deal? Which one(s) will make it and why?

Corvida: They'll all make it. They all bring something to the table that everyone can benefit from. The big deal for services like Friendfeed and Toluu is the interaction with others. You can start some great connections and find really awesome content, websites, and services with tools like these. With ReadBurner and RSSmeme, they're quick ways to stay up to date with the news as far as what's hot and what may be the talk of the town at the moment. Apps like Alert Thingy and Twhirl are great desktop tools for services like Twitter and Friendfeed that bring a lot more flexibility, options, and features that you may not have on the homepage of these services. All in all, they can help with productivity, keep you up-to-date, all while helping you build and maintain the contacts and connections.

Allen: Is Facebook worth the $15 billion valuation?

Corvida: Hell no! lol Facebook is not with $15 billion. If it were, they wouldn't have half the problems they have now. If they were, monetization wouldn't be a problem. They've gotten too big for their own good and in the process I feel their value has actually decreased. Facebook was worth a lot more when it started out than it is now based on my usage of Facebook and why people joined it in the first place. What made it special when it first launched, that excitement is long gone, especially if you were apart of Facebook before the hype, like I was.

Allen: I left Atlanta because the Web market is dead there, agencies pumping out the same crap they did 10 yrs ago, barely any startups and most developers are working for a large company. If you want back office IT, Atlanta is still the best city in the country. What's your take on Atlanta as a Web city?

Corvida: As a web city, Atlanta is not "it". I don't hear about too many things going on in Atlanta pertaining to web such as conferences or events. Then again, I've only been here for about a year. It's a great city, but I've yet to find anything remotely relating to the Web market here. It's unheard of as far as I know and trust me, I've looked!

Allen: What's your prediction on where social networking will go this year?

Corvida: Social networking this year will sky rocket in some ways and hit a plateau in others. I won't name anything, but a lot of the services that are coming out are more of a feature for other services; an enhancement in a way. Some are extremely repetitive and copy cats of other services. That's the plateau. Nothing particularly new and innovative is being developed as far as products and services are concerned. However, even with all the clones, there are those that are making significant strides and proving themselves to be better than what they may have copied. There are those that are trying to find ways to innovate. I think those innovations will progress tremendously this year. The competition in social networking is going to become tighter and stiffer. This is THE year for social networking and I think it will make headlines and become a lot more mainstream this year. Twitter has been a prime example of that. Even Facebook is taking notes.

Thanks for taking the time with us today Corvida!